I sat in a puddle of blood, cradling the near-dead body of a child.

The fight had been going well, at first. I was right in my expectations that I could easily handle the enemies present. Beyond the first two leading demons, there was barely any resistance.

Then the final demon had arrived - probably the damn leader. When he had reached the bottom of the stairs, brandishing an extra large bastard sword, he lifted a hand in my direction and pulled.

I could feel through my Qi as Qi was forcibly ripped from the children’s bodies and coalesced around the man’s weapon. Both kids had slumped over in their cages after that, and the battle from there took on a maniacal edge.

I mindlessly slaughtered everyone that was left. None had escaped.

I had spent Qi like a waterfall, conserving nothing. Bits and pieces of bodies lay strewn about the room. The walls were coated in splatters of blood. Except for the area behind me, where the cages were. It was near spotless.

Now, the two cages that had been occupied were broken and bent, their occupants in my lap. One had already succumbed to their siphoned Qi running out of control within their body, among other wounds.

The other I was cradling, rocking back and forth, as I tried to hum a soft lullaby between sobs and muttered apologies.

I stroked the girl’s short hair, trying to comfort her in what was sure to be her last moments. Her Qi was so fully drained from her body that there wasn’t even anything left within her to cause internal damage like the other child.

But with her body in such a dire state from other minor wounds and severe malnutrition, the damage of her body having its natural Qi ripped from it so violently was enough to send her into a state of shock. Her body was shutting down from physical wounds alone. Damage that could be healed.

If I had known any healing techniques. But I didn’t.

So there was nothing I could do. I had failed again.

So I just cried and tried to comfort her the best I could as she slipped further toward death, apologizing all the while.

Then I noticed someone running down the stairs. My vision was blurry with tears, so I instinctively held the little girl closer protectively.

“Oh. Oh no.” Suddenly the newcomer slid onto the ground beside me and reached out a hand toward the girl.

I snapped my jaws at her hand, defending the girl in my arms, as a few of my scattered knives began floating around the room threateningly. My sword hovered directly behind me, poised to strike.

She drew her hand back on instinct. “It’s okay, Miss Vale. I’m here to help.”

I blinked. My name? She knew my name? I still couldn’t see or think clearly, too wrapped up in my own despair and tears.

The woman reached forward again, this time her hand already glowing with Qi.

Healing Qi.

I shuddered out a breath, as I loosened my grip on the girl’s body so she could be treated.

I stared helplessly as I watched the healing technique enter the girl’s body to stabilize her. The minor cuts and scrapes healed in moments. The malnutrition couldn’t be remedied with such simple healing techniques, but it could stabilize the girl’s body for now.

And the healing stimulated her body into some small, natural Qi recovery as well. The girl’s face looked less pained, though still not restful.

I stared at the woman responsible, as my vision and head began to clear. The woman knew my name. But from where? And why?

As I took in the silvery white robes, now stained with the blood from the floor, and the long silver-white hair, I tried to place her. And then it clicked - the ice Cultivator from the tournament from the previous year. But I couldn’t remember her name.

“Thank you…” I said, my voice hoarse and whispered. “Thank you for this.”

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“It is genuinely my pleasure.” She said, her healing technique still active. “How could I let a girl die like this?”

“I’ve seen it happen enough.” I said, weakly. “Plenty of people wouldn’t bother.”

The silence after that hung undisturbed for a while as her healing technique ran its course. No longer in danger, the girl went from unconscious and in pain to more or less peacefully sleeping. Even no longer in tears, I continued to hold the girl close, caressing her hair.

The woman leaned back, her Qi fading back into her body. “She’ll be okay. Or, at least, her body will recover with time. And food. She’ll need something to eat as soon as she wakes up.”

I nodded. “Thank you. I’m sorry, but I don’t remember your name.”

“Avuri Axies.” She said, with the slightest of bows. “I suppose this isn’t much of a second meeting, is it, Miss Vale?”

I shook my head. “This is the best meeting I could have hoped for.” I looked down at the girl again. “I’m sure she’d agree.”

Avuri snorted. “If you say so.” She, too, reached out to brush some of the girl’s hair away from her face. “I’m glad I was in time. No one deserves whatever this all was.” She said, looking around at the mess of bodies.

Her gaze lingered on the other dead child.

“Demonic Cultivators. They were using the children as Qi cattle.” I responded absently. Avuri’s whole body shuddered as she processed that.

“Did you -”

“Slaughter them? Yes.” I interrupted her question. “They deserved it.”

“No argument there.” She said, nodding. Though her face didn’t look as pleased as she sounded. “It seems like it was particularly brutal,” her eyes were lingering on one body in particular that had been savagely ripped apart.

I had nothing to say in my own defense. I was fully aware how brutal I had been. Especially this time. “They siphoned the Qi from the children right in front of me. I thought they had been killed outright.” I found myself saying.

“Oh,” was all that came in response. I nodded.

Silence again. Avuri seemed to be having warring thoughts on the whole situation as she more slowly took in the chaos around her. I wasn’t sure how much real bloodshed she had seen until now, being part of a fairly large and peaceful sect, but I did genuinely hope she would be alright.

I absently brushed my fingers through the little girl’s hair, keeping the sweat-soaked mess off of her forehead, while I was thinking about what to do from here.

It was my first “successful rescue”. Until now, there were never survivors from any of the sects I had…cleansed. Uncle Vale had told me to find him if I was ever in trouble. Maybe he could take the girl in? It wouldn’t be the first time.

On the other hand, as I sat there, staring at the girl’s face, I couldn’t help but feel a strong urge to hold on tight and never let her go. I was one of the few in the world that had any insight into how she would feel when she woke up. If I stayed with her, she wouldn’t have to be alone.

She didn’t need to be alone. She wouldn’t be. That thought alone kept echoing around in my pounding head.

I wouldn’t leave this girl alone.

“Miss Vale?” Avuri asked tentatively.

I turned to face her, my thoughts coming out of their spiral. “Yes?”

“What now?” Avuri motioned around us, the second half of her question unasked.

“I’ll…I’ll clean up.” I said, looking at the mess. “At least everything is confined to this room. Burning the bodies will be fine,” I said, my words devoid of feeling, “The stone will keep the fire from spreading too far.” I waved at the stone walls surrounding us.

Avuri sat for a moment, then nodded. “Very well.”

With that more or less settled, I stood on the spot and began to walk up the stairs, the unconscious girl still cradled in my arms. It sounded like Avuri was following me.

“Can you…can you watch her while I take care of the mess?” I turned to face Avuri to ask, offering her the girl.

Avuri hesitated just a moment before nodding, and approaching to take her from me. As there was no real damage above ground, and the pavilion here was still in good shape, Avuri took the girl to a nearby set of cushions on the floor by a table. She set up a small bed of cushions and laid the girl on top.

Satisfied for the moment, I walked back down the stairs and began my gruesome work.

I gathered up the bodies in the center of the room, along with some of the broken wood from chairs and desks that were damaged during the fight. Easy kindling. Then I began breaking down some of the furniture a bit further to hopefully make things easier to burn. I left the decorative scrolls and other paper and cloth items scattered about the room, hoping they would feed the flames well.

Before I started any fires, I took a few minutes to strip off my bloodied robes and toss them onto the would-be pyre, before swapping to some simple clothes I had found in storage in the basement. I also used the time to gather up anything useful I could find into a new backpack for myself.

I didn’t carry oil or anything of the sort on me, so all I could do was hope that everything burned enough on its own without any dedicated fuel.

Once things were stacked up, I used a weak Qi technique that I had learned for camping and traveling that lit a small flame in my palm. It was useless as an attack as I never really gathered fire- aspected Qi, but it could start a campfire.

Within a few moments, I had several of the bodies and clothes alight with small fires. After making sure that the flames wouldn’t just fizzle out, I left the room again before it became a real blaze.

I found Avuri up above in a light meditation. I figured it was polite not to interrupt her, and was in no rush myself. Instead, I sat down by the girl, on the opposite side of the table from Avuri and dropped into a light meditation myself.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to truly focus on anything useful like actual Cultivation at the moment, but hoped I could at least calm myself.

It…didn’t work so well. My mind was jumping from inane thought to inane thought, constantly on the move. Five minutes in, I gave up on it, and slumped on the cushion. I reached out to stroke the girl’s back again, and she stirred.